Jürgen Klopp refused to be drawn on Joe Allen’s future after Liverpool accepted an initial £13m bid for the Wales international from Stoke City. Allen could be joined on his way out of Anfield by Jon Flanagan, who is mulling over a proposed loan move to Burnley.
Mark Hughes leads the race to sign Allen after Stoke became the first club to meet Liverpool’s valuation of the 26-year-old. The midfielder has 12 months remaining on his Anfield contract and has struggled to secure a regular first-team role during his four seasons on Merseyside, despite the admiration of Klopp and his predecessor, Brendan Rodgers.
Swansea City have registered interest in a reunion with their former player, who is understood to favour a return to the Liberty Stadium, while Sevilla are also keen on a key component of Wales’s progress to the European Championship semi-finals. Only Stoke have lodged a firm offer for Allen, however, and he has been left to consider his options while on holiday after the tournament in France.
“There is nothing about this and all the transfer rumours,” said the Liverpool manager, shortly before embarking on the club’s pre-season tour of the US. “I feel good [about Allen]. I like the guy and I really think he is a wonderful football player. I knew this before the European Championships, I saw it during the Euros and I know it now.
“I have said all I can say about this. It is all about respecting contracts, negotiating or not – whatever – and making a transfer or not. But it is nothing to discuss in public. I’ve not seen him since the middle of May in Basel.”
Klopp omitted Flanagan from Wednesday’s pre-season friendly against Huddersfield Town after newly promoted Burnley offered the full-back a season-long loan. Liverpool’s manager views the 23-year-old as part of his long-term plans but, after an injury-plagued 18 months and amid greater competition for places at Anfield, may consider the prospect of regular Premier League football at Turf Moor of greater benefit to Flanagan. The versatile defender is considering the move only four months after signing a new three-year contract with his boyhood club.
Liverpool recorded their fourth consecutive win of pre-season at the John Smith’s Stadium, where goals from new arrival Marko Grujic and Alberto Moreno gave the visitors a 2-0 victory in The Shankly Trophy friendly.
Grujic, who impressed in central midfield with his stature and composure on the ball, scored his second goal of pre-season with a clinical first-half finish. The Huddersfield goalkeeper Joel Coleman saved a Philippe Coutinho penalty moments later, having been only booked for denying Sadio Mané a clear goalscoring opportunity, before Moreno sealed victory in the 88th minute with another penalty.
Liverpool ended the game with the 18-year-old academy goalkeeper Shamal George in attack having deployed all their outfield substitutes at half-time and lost Lucas Leiva with a hamstring injury. The Brazilian midfielder’s involvement in the tour of the US is in doubt as a consequence. The match was temporarily halted after a drone appeared above the pitch during the second half.
“The first half we should have scored more,” Klopp said. “We missed a penalty and had a few big chances and played some wonderful combinations, so it was really good. But I was not too happy with the concentration level in the first 20 minutes.
“The second half we were lively but we were under pressure and then we had the unfortunate injury of Lucas. We played a strange formation, with Shamal as a striker but he did wonderfully. I was watching the game and organising the system with 10 and then they came and said ‘Come on, we have Shamal’ so we changed it. Even though it doesn’t look like it all the time these games are quite serious – we don’t want to make joke games. It is nice when the crowd calls it in but at 1-0 in no game in the world should you make a ‘funny’ decision. If it is 4-0 or 5-0 you can think about it but even then it is a lack of respect for the opponent. But everything is okay.”